“As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the Word, that ye may grow thereby.” – 1 Peter 2:2

Can you imagine a conversation like this?
“I’m just so weak I can hardly get out of bed. I just don’t want to go to work, I’m so weak.”
“Well, what’s the matter? Have you been to the doctor?”
“No.”
“Do you have a disease?”
“I don’t think so.”
“What are you eating?”
“Well, I have this restaurant I go to on Sundays—sometimes—if it’s not raining, and I get a meal there. That’s all I eat.”
“You mean that’s all you eat?”
“Yeah, and I’m just so weak.”
Friend, organized worship is just to whet your appetite. If you don’t learn how to feed yourself the Word of God during the week, you will never grow. You’ll be sick and weak spiritually.

Dig in to the abundant nourishment of God’s Word. It will be a source of victory and a source of joy.–Adrian Rogers

I hope our recent experience of reading through Romans 12 each day for a month will whet your appetite to continue the practice, picking a different chapter each month. Although that shouldn’t be all you do, that is a good way to maintain your focus on God’s Word. I heard a lot of testimonies about the blessings gained from reading Rom. 12 and no complaints. If you missed out last month, pick a chapter and and try this for yourself.

Everyday people are injured and killed as a result of being distracted– many because they were texting while driving. Yet even more people are adversely affected because they take their eyes off of Jesus. Hopefully you are not among their number. That is a mistake that affects others as well as you. Not only does it cause you to go astray, it causes you to mislead others. For safety sake keep your eyes on Him. If I could have but one plaque hanging on my wall it would be this–“Looking unto Jesus“. That describes exactly how I want to spend my life. Put in a verse it looks like this–“For to me to live is Christ..“(Phil. 1:21). To live like Him I must look to Him–that’s what changes me (2 Cor. 3:18). I look at Him because He is looking at me. The best advice I can give you is this–Keep your eyes on the Lord. He never takes His eyes off you”. The old song said it well,  “Turn you eyes upon Jesus”.

Life can be difficult and frightening. It is common to find yourself in situations where you see no way out. It appears that God doesn’t see you and you feel as though He has forgotten you. It is then that you need to look at the facts, which are stated in God’s Word. That gives us faith to act. In the story of Hagar we learn a valuable lesson. One of God’s names is El Roi, “the God who sees“. Whatever your circumstances, God knows, God cares, and God can help, but you must trust Him. And that will give you the faith to act, to go on when all seems lost.

“Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.“–Heb. 12:2

Distraction can be deadly. One of the problems we face today is that of being focused on our problems rather than our Savior. Consequently we lose sight of who we are and what we have in Christ and are overcome by fear. This story by Elisabeth Elliot is a good illustration of this dander:

“In one of the photo albums from my years in Ecuador is a close-up of a big scorpion on a window screen. I know what was beyond that ugly thing–a green lawn set about with palm trees, a garden of pineapples, a sweep of pasture land, and then the curve of a wide river. The photograph knows nothing of all that. The photographer had focused on the scorpion. He got a very good picture of a scorpion. The eye of the camera saw nothing else.

The eye of faith looks through and past that which the human eye focuses on. Faith looks at the facts–even the ugly ones (remember Abraham who looked at his wife’s barrenness and his own impotence)–but does not stop there. It looks beyond to the beauty of things the human eye can never see–things as invisible as the palms and the pineapples are in my photograph.

When the eye of the heart is fixed on the world and the self, everything eternal and invisible is blurred and obscure. No wonder we cannot recognize God–we are studying the scorpion. Instead of gazing at Him in all his majesty and love, we peer at the screen, horrified at what we see there.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Make my heart pure, Lord, that I may will to do your will. Give me the courage to see my world with all its evil and pain, but change the focus of my life.”

Finishing the work God has given us to do ought to be the desire of every Christian. But many fail. Their life ends but their work is left unfinished. Some folks serve with for years and then suddenly blow it near the end, and fail to finish. For one reason or another they stumble, fall, and fail–in sight of the finish line. Dear friend think about it–just a few more days to labor, just a few more miles to travel, just a few more difficulties to overcome–please don’t quit now. With God’s help you can take it and make it. It would be horrible to halt now. Do as the song says, “with joy I’ll carry on!” It is time for “sad-sack” Christianity to cease. We are to rejoice in the Lord always (Phil. 4:4) and to do that we must be “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.” (Heb. 12:2-3). With our focus on Christ we cannot fail.